Friday, September 4, 2009

Venezuelan president bashes Israel in Syria trip

DAMASCUS, Syria – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez attacked Israel Thursday during his visit to Syria, calling it an imperialist nation that annihilates other people.

Chavez comments came during a news conference with his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad after a one-hour meeting at the hilltop presidential palace.

"Israel has become a country that annihilates people and is hostile to peace," he said, according to the Arabic translation of his remarks to reporters.

In comments carried by Venezuelan state television, he also accused Israel of being part of imperialist efforts to divide the Middle East.

"The entire world knows it. Why was the state of Israel created? ... To divide. To impede the unity of the Arab world. To assure the presence of the North American empire in all these lands," he said.

Chavez is on an 11-day trip to Libya, Algeria, Syria, Iran, Belarus and Russia in his bid to build a multi-polar world and decrease U.S. influence in the region.

"I believe it is a fateful battle. It's either now or never in order to liberate the world from imperialism and change the world from a unipolar into a multi-polar world," Chavez told reporters in Damascus.